BETHLEHEM TWP. — Nathaniel Barson has added another municipal client for his Animal Control & Investigative Services and now has a half-dozen.

After hearing his pitch, Bethlehem Township Committee agreed to hire him, for around $7,900 a year. He replaces the Hunterdon Humane Animal Shelter, after its president, Theresa Carlson, was arrested on animal cruelty charges last month.

Barson's company was already the animal officer for five towns in the southern half of Hunterdon.

Delaware, East Amwell and West Amwell townships hired him early in 2012 through a shared-services agreement. Raritan Townshp already contracted with Barson, and then Flemington hired him last November.

In explaining why Bethlehem made the switch, Mayor Paul Muir noted that the Hunterdon Humane Animal Shelter “has had some issues” and said the township reviews its one-year animal control contract annually.

Barson, who lives in West Amwell Township, told the Bethlehem officials that one of his employees, a part-timer, lives near Cherryville and can help serve northern parts of his firm’s territory.

Besides dealing with domestic dog and cat problem, Barson and crew will respond to “any public safety emergency where animals are involved,” he said. This ranges from a wild animal entering a house to police arresting suspected drunk drivers who have animals in their vehicles which need to be taken care of.

Barson is also a certified cruelty investigator, he said, so he can go to court for the municipality. He said he handles relatively small cases himself, but would call in the state SPCA police in for major cases.

State law requires that animals that are seized be held for seven days before they can be released for adoption, or destroyed. Barson said he has connections with several animal rescue groups, and the result is that “most all adoptable animals are placed” in a new home.

“Typically only a handful of animals go unclaimed in a given year,” he said, explaining that “there is not a high incidence of abandonment or strays in Hunterdon County,” since it’s a “fairly affluent, well-educated community.”

He contrasted that with an inner city, where dogs and cats “are frequently not claimed” by their owners.